On Saturday, the Capitals took to the ice at Medstar Capitals Iceplex for the second day of training camp. With the camp roster and invites split into three group, each group spent time doing on-ice practice, off-ice training, and video review.

Although the roster has gone through their first cuts, such as sending first-round draft pick Alexander Alexeyev back to his junior league team, Saturday’s practice featured everyone. Alexeyev, who had an impressive training camp, was in Group White with Caps vets Braden Holtby, Nicklas Backstrom, and TJ Oshie. Group Red paired goalies Pheonix Copley and Ilya Samsonov, both of whom are in the running to be number two in the net behind Holtby this season. Group Blue featured Alex Ovechkin and the Caps’ Russians, who along with Tom Wilson were on the celebratory end of a competitive two-on-two drill–Ovi was jumping up and down on his skates celebrating the win.

The holiday season is here, which means that many people are watching some of their favorite Christmas movies. For many, this includes Elf, featuring former SNL standout Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, a man who has been raised as an elf who goes to find his human father in NYC.

In the movie, Buddy struggles to fit into mainstream society, sometimes doing some pretty strange stuff. In one scene, he excitedly eats a heaping plate of spaghetti mixed with candy and sweets.

Hershey Bears defenseman and 2016 Capitals first-round pick, Lucas Johansen, has been on a hot streak lately with two goals in his last three games. It seems that some of the talented defenseman’s success can be attributed to some studying that he’s doing to improve his game.

According to Chocolate Hockey, Johansen recently requested footage of former teammate Christian Djoos, hoping to study the defenseman’s play and add more of an offensive edge to his game.

On Sunday, December 3, the Hershey Bears held their annual teddy bear toss game at the Giant Center.

Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears to the game and throw them on the ice immediately after the home team scores its first goal. The stuffed animals are then donated to hospitals and local charities during the holidays.

Hershey’s teddy bear toss was initiated by a goal from Liam O’Brien in the second period. While there is nothing better than getting plunked in the head with a pink teddy bear during a goal celebration, the photos of Lucas Johansen and Mason Mitchell being swallowed whole by mountain of stuffed animals is a close second.

Capitals 2016 first-round pick Lucas Johansen started out his first professional season in the AHL hot, scoring nine points in his first 12 games for the Hershey Bears. After a cold streak (three points in his last 11 games), Johansen looks to be heating back up.

Friday, in the first half of a home-and-home with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Johansen scored a goal in the Bears’ 5-4 loss. Saturday, Johansen opened the scoring in Chocolatetown, kicking off a 4-2 win for Hershey.

Sunday afternoon, the Hershey Bears picked up their second straight win, a 4-3 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack. The game was Hershey’s annual Pink the Rink game to support the fight against breast cancer.

Sunday night, the Hershey Bears registered a 4-3 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack. As the team battled it out on the ice, the organization as a whole showed its support for those fighting breast cancer with its annual Pink the Rink Night at Giant Center.

In addition to raising money for the American Cancer Society, the team had a special ceremonial puck drop that included forward Riley Barber’s mother. Stacy Barber, a breast cancer survivor who has been cancer-free for six years, joined her son at the center dot to drop the puck.

Friday night, the Hershey Bears took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in their first of eight meetings this year. The Baby Pens beat the Bears in a hard-fought game, but Lucas Johansen and Riley Barber connected for a pretty goal in the third period.